This invention relates to miniaturized devices for delivery of chemical molecules, and more particularly to controlled time and rate release multi-welled delivery devices.
Drug delivery is an important aspect of medical treatment. The efficacy of many drugs is directly related to the way in which they are administered. Some therapies require that the drug be repeatedly administered to the patient over a long period of time. This makes the selection of a proper drug delivery method problematic. Patients often forget, are unwilling, or are unable to take their medication. Drug delivery also becomes problematic when the drugs are too potent for systemic delivery. Therefore, attempts have been made to design and fabricate a delivery device, which is capable of the controlled, pulsatile, or continuous release of a wide variety of molecules including, but not limited to, drugs and other therapeutics.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,797,898 to Santini Jr., et al. discloses microchip delivery devices which have a plurality, typically hundreds to thousands, of tiny reservoirs in which each reservoir has a reservoir cap positioned on the reservoir over the molecules, so that the molecules, e.g., drugs, are released from the device by diffusion through or upon disintegration of the reservoir caps. The reservoirs may have caps made of a material that degrades at a known rate or that has a known permeability (passive release), or the caps may include a conductive material capable of dissolving or becoming permeable upon application of an electrical potential (active release). It would be useful, however, to utilize other methods for triggering release, particularly when the presence of an electrolyte is not convenient or possible. It also would be advantageous to provide active release without the limitation that the cap material includes a conductive material capable of disintegrating or becoming permeable upon application of an electrical potential.
It would be desirable to provide a multi-welled delivery device for drugs and other molecules that does not require the presence of an electrolyte.
It would be desirable to provide a multi-welled delivery device for active release of drugs and other molecules that does not require a conductive reservoir cap or direct application of an electrical potential.